Indigo Prophecy

It has been far too long since a good adventure game graced our fine systems. Indigo Prophecy was developed by Quantic Dream, the same company that made the unusual Omikron, another strongly narrative game. This time, the story takes place sometime in the near future, in a New York City gripped by an unusually cold winter. The story involves murder, conspiracy, and an ancient prophecy that is about to come to pass.

The gameplay in Indigo Prophecy could definitely use some work, as it isn't quick or easy to move your characters around the environment. Once you get down to making actions however, it's actually somewhat innovative. Most of the time, your actions will be handled by the use of the mouse, which you'll need to make a motion as described on screen. In conversations you'll use this feature to choose different discussion options, and thanks to the way that Indigo Prophecy handles dialogue, you'll only be able to choose certain specific options in each conversation. The result is you can have a single discussion any number of ways.

Once you're into an action scene, you'll play a button pressing game that's overlaid on the screen, letting you see the action while you're controlling it. Finally, you'll occasionally have to use a system where you press alternating buttons to play out a scene that involves endurance or exertion. Many of these gameplay elements get brought back as extras you can unlock where you can play through special bonuses like a ice skating competition, or a boxing match.

Lastly, let me speak of the game's narrative. More than any game I've played in a long while, Indigo Prophecy attempts and succeeds at a tremendously strong narrative. It's only true flaw in this respect is that it skips a large gap of time, and in my estimation, has also exempted important scenes that were likely not finished to the liking of the game's developers. This means that the ending hour or so of the game represents some significant story changes that can be very hard to keep up with.

That said, Indigo Prophecy is an excellent adventure title for those of us who haven't had a good adventure game in sometime, and with but a few small tweaks, this game engine could produce many fine adventure games. It is my hope that other developers will follow Quantic Dream's footsteps and relaunch this shriveled genre.